Multi-proxy dating the ‘Millennium Eruption’ of Changbaishan to late 946 CE

Oppenheimer, C. and Wacker, L. and Xu, J. and Galván, J.D. and Stoffel, M. and Guillet, S. and Corona, C. and Sigl, M. and Di Cosmo, N. and Hajdas, I. and Pan, B. and Breuker, R. and Schneider, L. and Esper, J. and Fei, J. and Hammond, James O.S. and Büntgen, U. (2017) Multi-proxy dating the ‘Millennium Eruption’ of Changbaishan to late 946 CE. Quaternary Science Reviews 158 , pp. 164-171. ISSN 0277-3791.

Abstract

Ranking among the largest volcanic eruptions of the Common Era (CE), the ‘Millennium Eruption’ of Changbaishan produced a widely-dispersed tephra layer (known as the B-Tm ash), which represents an important tie point for palaeoenvironmental studies in East Asia. Hitherto, there has been no consensus on its age, with estimates spanning at least the tenth century CE. Here, we identify the cosmogenic radiocarbon signal of 775 CE in a subfossil larch engulfed and killed by pyroclastic currents emplaced during the initial rhyolitic phase of the explosive eruption. Combined with glaciochemical evidence from Greenland, this enables us to date the eruption to late 946 CE. This secure date rules out the possibility that the Millennium Eruption contributed to the collapse of the Bohai Kingdom (Manchuria/Korea) in 926 CE, as has previously been hypothesised. Further, despite the magnitude of the eruption, we do not see a consequent cooling signal in tree-ring-based reconstructions of Northern Hemisphere summer temperatures. A tightly-constrained date for the Millennium Eruption improves the prospect for further investigations of historical sources that may shed light on the eruption's impacts, and enhances the value of the B-Tm ash as a chronostratigraphic marker.

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